Soldier's Song

Poem by Al-Mutanabbi (915–965), tr. Bernard Lewis in Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 68: Tastier than old wine, sweeter than the passing of winecups is the play of swords and lances, the clash of armies at my command. To face death in battle is my life, for life is what fulfils the soul. Related post: A Stirrer-Up of Strife.